Did you know...?

So I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for last night's Grammy Awards because I couldn't be bothered to actually watch the damn thing (some nice wins for artists I like, i.e. Daft Punk, Estelle, George Carlin, John Mayer, The Raconteurs on a weird one I still want to research).

So scrolling down through the categories, I discovered some odd ones I'd honestly never heard of, and probably weren't televised, such as "Best Historical Album" and "Best Long Form Music Video." The one that really threw me, however, is "Best Album Notes." Apparently, there is a competition about who has the best...album notes.

At first, I had no idea WTF that meant. How do you rate something like that? Who had the best photos? Maybe a font contest? Or who wrote the best tribute to their mother for inspiration for the album?

So what do I do when I don't know something? I Wikipedia it! And what luck, I'm already here. (Of course they didn't provide a handy little link for the inquisitive, but I have Firefox and almost always have the Wiki search engine on call.)

And guess what? I'm still not sure. What constitutes excellent album notes? Seriously?!

Such notes often contained a mix of factual and anecdotal material, and occasionally a discography for the artist or the issuing record label. They were also an occasion for thoughtful signed essays on the artist by another party, often a sympathetic music journalist, a custom that has largely died out. However, the liner note essay has survived in retrospective compilations, particularly in box sets.

--entry on Liner Notes

This is my best guest, but I honestly would love to be in the committee that decides on this particular award. It sounds like a trippy experience, possibly one involving some...controlled substances.

Just saying.